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LIBRARY 

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THE  PROPHET  JOSEPH  SMITH'S 

VIEWS 

ON    THE 

POWERS  /  POLICY 


GOVERNMENT 


UNITED  STATES. 


To  WHICH  is  APPENDED  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE 
PROPHET  JOSEPH  SMITH  AND  THE  HONS.  J.  C.  CALHOUN 
AND  HENRY  CLAY,  CANDIDATES  FOR  THE  PRESI- 
DENCY OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  1844. 


SALT  LAKE  CITY : 

JOS.    HYRUM   PARRY   &   Co., 

1886. 


A  Nei,  Revised  and  Enlarged  Edition  of  an  Important  Work, 


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latives and 
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an  Important  Question  ! 


A  Book  that  Should  be  Read 
by  Everybody  !  Treating  up- 
on the  Most  Important  Topic 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century. 


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Own  Informa- 
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enment ! 


B 


-OR- 


POLYGAMY  AND.  MONOGAMY   COMPARED. 


By  A  CHRISTIAN  PHILANTHROPIST. 


This  work  is  a  Christian  argument  in  favor  of  Polygamy,  showing 
by  reason,  analogy,,  philosophy,  history  and  social  science  that  Poly- 
gamy is  the  only  natural,  reasonable  and  correct  system  of  marriage. 
The  author  shows  by  the  use  of  apt  historical  illustrations  that  Mono- 
gamy is  an  oft-shoot  of  Paganism,  and  never  was  or  can  be  a  part  of 
true  Christianity.  Both  modern  and  ancient  history  proves  that  greater 
evils  have  ever  been  the  result  of  the  enforced  Monogamic  system  of 
marriage  than  have  arisen  through  any  other  social  practice. 

A  Partial  List  of  its  Interesting  Table  of  Contents  : 

Introductory.  —  Primary  Laws  of  Love.  —  Primary  Laws  of 
Marriage.  —  -Origin  of  Polygamy.  —  Orgin  of  Mono- 
gamy. —  Monogamy  after  the  Introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity. —  Monogamy  as  It  Is.  —  Relation  of  Mono- 
gamy to  Crime.  —  Christian  Objections.  —  Appendix. 


,  ONE  DOLLAR,  POSTPAID. 


Call  on  or  address  the  Publishers, 


JOS.  HYRUM  PARRY  &  CO., 

26  S.  Main  Street,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 


l?oT-  IS1*1 
THE  PROPHET  JOSEPH  SMITH'S 

VIEWS 

ON    THE 

POWERS  &  POLICY 


GOVERNMENT 


UNITED  STATES. 


To  WHICH  is  APPENDED  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  THE 

PROPHET  JOSEPH  SMITH  AND  THE  HONS.  J.  C.  CALHOUN 

AND  HENRY  CLAY,  CANDIDATES  FOR  THE  PRESI- 

DI.NCY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  1844. 


SALT  LAKE  CITY  : 

JOS.    HYRUM,  PARRY   &   Co., 

1886. 


JOSEPH  SMITH'S  VIEWS 


Powers  and  Policy -of  the  Government. 


T^ORN  in  a  land  of  liberty,  and  breathing  an  air 
13  uncorrupted  with  the  sirocco  of  barbarous  climes,  I 
ever  feel  a  double  anxiety  for  the  happiness  of  all  men, 
both  in  time  and  in  eternity. 

My  cogitations,  like  Daniel's,  have  for  a  long  time 
troubled  me,  when  I  viewed  the  condition  of  men  through- 
out the  world,  and  more  especially  in  this  boasted  realm, 
where  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ''holds  these  truths 
to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable 
rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness;  "  but  at  the  sdme  time  some  two  or  three 
millions  of  people  are  held  as  slaves  for  life,  because  the 
spirit  of  them'  is  covered  With  a  darker  skin  than  ours;  and 
hundreds  of  our  own  kiiidred  VfiSr  "a'ri  infraction,  or  supposed 
infraction,  of  some  over-tWse  statute,  have  to  be  incarcer- 
ated in  dungeon  glridmsv'di"  softer  the  %ibre  moral  peniten- 
tiary 'gravitation  of  mer'cy^H1^  nutshell;  while  the  duellist, 
the  debauchee,  and  the  defaulter  for  millions,  and  other 
criminals,  take  the  uppermost  rooms  at  feasts,  or,  like  the 
bird  of  passage,  find  a  more  congenial  clime  by  flight. 

The  wisdom  which  ought  to  characterize  the  freest, 


6  POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

wisest,  and  most  noble  nation  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
should,  like  the  sun  in  his  meridian  splendor,  warm  every 
object  beneath  its  rays;  and  the  main  efforts  of  her  officers, 
who  are  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  servants  of  the  peo- 
ple, ought  to  be  directed  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  all, 
black  or  white,  bond  or  free;  for  the  best  of  books  says, 
' '  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth. ' ' 

Our  common  country  presents  to  all  men  the  same 
advantages,  the  same  facilities,  the  same  prospects,  the 
same  honors,  and  the  same  rewards;  and  without  hypoc- 
risy, the  Constitution,  when  it  says,  "WE,  THE  PEOPLE 
of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  ensure  , domestic  tranquility,  provide  for 
the  common  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and 
secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  poster- 
ity, do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United 
States  of  America,"  meant  just  what  it  said  without  refer- 
ence to  color  or  condition,  ad  infinitum. 

The  aspirations  and  expectations  of  a  virtuous  people, 
environed  with  so  wise,  so  liberal,  so  deep,  so  broad,  and 
so  high  a  charter  of  equal  rights  as  appears  in  said  Consti- 
tution, ought  to  be  treated  by  those  to  whom  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  laws  is  entrusted  with  as  much  sanctity  as  the 
prayers  of  the  Saints  are  treated  in  heaven,  that  love,  con- 
fidence, and  union,  like  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  should 
bear  witness, 

(For  ever  singing  as  they  shine,) 

"  The  hand  that  made  us  is  Divine!" 

Unity  is  power;  and  when  I  reflect  on  the  importance 
of  it  to  the  stability  of  all  governments,  I  am  astounded  at 
the  silly  moves  of  persons  and  parties  to  foment  discord  in 
order  to  ride  into  power  on  the  current  of  popular  excite- 
ment; nor  am  I  less  surprised  at  the  stretches  of  power  or 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  7 

restrictions  of  right  which  too  often  appear  as  acls  of  legis- 
lators to  pave  the  way  to  some  favorite  political  scheme  as 
destitute  of  intrinsic  merit  as  a  wolf's  heart  is  of  the  milk  of 
human  kindness.  A  Frenchman  would  say,  ' '  Prosque  tout 
aimer  richesses  et pouvoir. ' '  (Almost  all  men  like  wealth 
and  power.) 

I  must  dwell  on  this  subject  longer  than  others;  for 
nearly  one  hundred  years  ago  that  golden  patriot,  Benja- 
min Franklin,  drew  up  a  plan  of  union  for  the  then  colo- 
nies of  Great  Britain,  that  now  are  such  an  independent  na- 
tion, which,  among  many  wise  provisions  for  obedient  chil- 
dren under  their  father's  more  rugged  hand,  had  this: — 
"They  have  power  to  make  laws,  and  lay  and  levy  such 
general  duties,  imports,  or  taxes  as  to  them  shall  appear 
most  equal  and  just,  (considering  the  ability  and  other  cir- 
cumstances of  the  inhabitants  in  the  several  colonies,)  and 
such  as  may  be  collected  with  the  least  inconvenience  to 
the  people,  rather  discouraging  luxury  than  loading  indus- 
try with  unnecessary  burthens."  Great  Britain  surely 
lacked  the  laudable  humanity  and  fostering  clemency  to 
grant  such  a  just  plan  of  union;  but  the  sentiment  remains, 
like  the  land  that  honored  its  birth,  as  a  pattern  for  wise 
men  to  study  the  convenience  of  the  people  more  than  the  com- 
forts of  the  cabinet. 

And  one  of  the  most  noble  fathers  of  our  freedom  and 
country's  glory,  great  in  war,  great  in  peace,  great  in  the 
estimation  of  the  world,  and  great  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen,  (the  illustrious  Washington,)  said  in  his  first 
inaugural  address  to  Congress — "I  behold  the  surest 
pledges  that  as,  on  one  side,  no  local  prejudices  or  attach- 
ments, no  separate  views  or  party  animosities  will  misdirect 
the  comprehensive  and  equal  eye  which  ought  to  watch 
over  this  great  assemblage  of  communities  and  interests, 
so,  on  another,  that  the  foundations  of  our  national  policy 


8  POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

will  be  laid  in  the  pure  and  immutable  principles  of  private 
morality,  and  the  pre-eminence  of  free  government  be 
exemplified  by  all  the  attributes  which  can  win  the  affec- 
tions of  its  citizens  and  command  the  respect  of  the  world/' 

Verily,  here  shine  the  virtue  and -wisdom  of  a  states,- 
man  in  such  lucid  rays,  that  had  every  succeeding  Con- 
gress followed  the  rich  instruction,  in  all  their  deliberations 
and  enactments,  for  the  benefit  and  convenience  of  the 
whole  community  and  the  communities  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed, no  sound  of  a  rebellion  in  South  Carolina,  no  rup-; 
ture  in  Rhode  Island,  no  mob  in  Missouri  expelling  her,  citi- 
zens by  Executive  authority,  corruption  in  the  ballot-boxes,' 
a  border  warfare  between  >  Ohio  and  Michigan,  hard  times 
and  distress,  outbreak  upon  outbreak  in  the  principal  cities, 
murder,  robbery,  and  defalcation,  scarcity  of  money,  and  a 
thousand  other  difficulties,  would  have  torn  asunder  the 
bonds  of  the  Union,  destroyed  the  confidence  of  man  with 
man,  and  left  the  great  body  of  the  people  to  mourn  over 
misfortunes  in  poverty  brought  on  by  corrupt  legislation  in 
an  hour  of  proud  vanity  for  self-aggrandizement. 

The  great  Washington,  soon  after  the  foregoing  faith- 
ful admonition  for  the  common  welfare  of  this  nation,  further 
advised  Congress  that  "  among  the  many  interesting 
objects  which  will  engage  your  attention,  that  of  providing 
for  the  common  defence  will  merit  particular  regard.  To 
be  prepared  for  war  is  one  of  the  most  effectual  means  of 
preserving  peace."  As  the  Italian  would  say — •" Buono 
aviso"  (Good  advice.) 

The  elder  Adams,  in  his  inaugural  address,  gives  na- 
tional pride  such  a  grand  turn  of  justification,  that  every 
honest  citizen  must  look  back  upon  the  infancy  of  the 
United  States  with  an '  approving  smile,  and  rejoice  that 
patriotism  in  their  rulers,  virtue  in  the  people,  and  pros- 
perity in  the  Union  once  crowned  the  expectations  of  hope, 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  9 

unveiled  the  sophistry  of  the  hypocrite,  and  silenced  the 
folly  of  foes.  Mr.  Adams  said,  "If  national  pride  is 
ever  justifiable  or  excusable,  it  is  when  it  springs  not  from 
power  or  riches,  grandeur  or  glory,  but  from  conviction  of 
national  innocence,  information,  and  benevolence." 

There  is  no  doubt  such  was  actually  the  case  with  our 
youngj/ealm  at  the  close  of  the  last  century.  Peace, 
prosperity,  and  union  filled  the  country  with  religious 
toleration,  temporal  enjoyment,  and  virtuous  enterprise; 
and  grandly,  too,  when  the  deadly  winter  of  the  "  Stamp 
A 61,"  the  "Tea" Act,"  and  other  dost  communion  acts  oi 
Royalty  had  choked  the  growth  of  freedom  of  speech, 
liberty  of  the  press,  and  liberty  of  conscience,  did  light, 
liberty,  and  loyalty  flourish  like  the  cedars  of  God. 

The  respected  and  venerable  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  his 
inaugural  address,  made  more  than  forty  years  ago,  shows' 
what  a  beautiful  prospect  an  innocent,  virtuous  nation 
presents  to  the  sage's  eye,  where  there  is  space  for  enter- 
prise, hands  for  industry,  heads  for  heroes,  and  hearts  for 
moral  greatness.  He  said,"  A  rising  nation  spread  .over  a 
wide  and  fruitful  land,  traversing  all  the  seas  with  the  rich 
productions  of  their  industry,  engaged  in  commerce  with 
nations  who  feel  power  and  forget  right,  advancing  rapidly 
to  destinies  beyond  the  reach  of  mortal  eye, — when  I 
contemplate  these  transcendent  objects,  and  see  the  honor, 
the  happiness,  and  the  hopes  of  this  beloved  country 
committed  to  the  issue  and  the  auspices  of  this  day,  I 
shrink  from  the  contemplation,  and  humble  myself  before 
the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking." 

Such  a  prospect  was  truly  soul-stiring  to  a  good  man. 
But  "since  the  fathers  have  fallen  asleep,"  wicked  and 
designing  men  have  unrobed  the  Government  of  its  glory; 
and  the  people,  if  not  in  dust  and  ashes,  or  in  sackcloth, 
have  to  lament  in  poverty  her  departed  greatness,  while 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 


demagogues  build  fires  in  the  north  and  south,  east  and 
west,  to  keep  up  their  spirits  till  it  is  better  times.  But 
year  after  year  has  left  the  people  to  hope,\\\\  the  very 
name  of  Congress  or  State  Legislature  is  as  horrible  to  the 
sensitive  friend  of  his  country  as  the  house  of  "Bluebeard" 
is  to  the  children,  or  "Crockford's  "  Hell  of  London  to 
meek  men. 

When  the  people  are  secure  and  their  rights  properly 
respecled,  then  the  four  main  pillars  of  prosperity  —  viz., 
agriculture,  manufactures,  navigation  and  commerce,  need 
the  fostering  Care  of  Government;  and  in  so  goodly  a  coun- 
try as  ours,  where  the  soil,  the  climate,  the  rivers,  the  lakes, 
and  the  sea  coast,  the  productions,  the  timber,  the  minerals, 
and  the  inhabitants  are  so  diversified,  that  a  pleasing 
variety  accommodates  all  tastes,  trades,  calculations,  it  cer- 
tainly is  the  highest  point  of  supervision  to  protect  the 
whole  northern  and  southern,  eastern  and  western,  centre 
and  circumference  of  the  realm,  by  a  judicious  tariff.  It 
is  an  old  saying  and  a  true  one,  ' '  It  you  wish  to  be  re- 
spefted,  respect  yourselves." 

I  will  adopt  in  part  the  language  of  Mr.  Madison's 
inaugural  address  —  "To  cherish  peace  and  friendly  inter- 
course with  all  nations,  having  corresponding  dispositions; 
to  maintain  sincere  neutrality  towards  belligerent  nations; 
to  prefer  in  all  cases  amicable  discussion  and  reasonable 
accommodation  oi  differences  to  a  decision  of  them  by  an 
appeal  to  arms;  to  exclude  foreign  intrigues  and  foreign 
partialities,  so  degrading  to  all  countries,  and  so  baneful  to 
free  ones;  to  foster  a  spirit  of  independence  too  just  to 
invade  the  rights  of  others,  too  proud  to  surrender  our  own, 
too  liberal  to  indulge  unworthy  prejudices  ourselves,  and 
too  elevated  not  to  look  down  upon  them  in  others;  to 
hold  the  union  of  the  States  as  the  basis  of  their  peace  and 
happiness;  to  support  the  Constitution,  which  is  the  cement 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  u 

of  the  Union,  as  well  in  its  limitations  as  in  its  authorities; 
to  respect  the  rights  and  authorities  reserved  to  the  States 
and  to  the  people  as  equally  incorporated  with  and  essen- 
tial to  the  success  of  the  general  system ;  to  avoid  the 
slightest  interference  with  the  rights  oi  conscience  or  the 
functions  of  religion,  so  wisely  exempted  from  civil  juris- 
diction; to  preserve  in  their  full  energy  the  other  salutary 
provisions  in  behalf  of  private  and  personal  rights,  and  of 
the  freedom  of  the  press," — so  far  as  intention  aids  in  the 
fulfillment  ol  duty,  are  consummations  too  big  with  benefits 
not  to  captivate  the  energies  of  all  honest  men  .to  achieve 
them,  when  they  can  be  brought  to  pass  by  reciprocation, 
friendly  alliances,  wise  legislation,  and  honorable  treaties. 
The  Government  has  once  flourished  under  the  guid- 
ance of  trusty  servants;  and  the  Hon.  Monroe,  in  his  day, 
while  speaking  of  the  Constitution,  says,  "  Our  commerce 
has  been  wisely  regulated  with  foreign  nations  and  between 
the  States.  New  States  have  been  admitted  into  our  Union. 
Our  Territory  has  been  enlarged  by  fair  and  honorable 
treaty,  and  with  great  advantage  to  the  original  States;  the 
States  respectively  protected  by  the  national  Government, 
under  a  mild  paternal  system  against  foreign  dangers,  and 
enjoying  within  their  separate  spheres,  by  a  wise  partition 
of  power,  a  just  proportion  of  the  sovereignty,  have 
improved  their  police,  extended  their  settlements,  and 
attained  a  strength  and  maturity  which  are  the  best  proofs 
of  wholesome  laws  well  administered.  And  if  we  look  to 
the  condition  of  individuals,  what  a  proud  spectacle  does 
it  exhibit!  On  whom  has  oppression  fallen  in  any  quarter 
of  the  Union?  Who*  has  been  deprived  of  any  right  of 
person  or  property? — who  restrained  from  offering  his 
vows  in  the  mode  which  he  prefers  to  the  Divine  Author  of 
his  being?  It  is  well  known  that  all  these  blessings  have 
been  enjoyed  in  their  fullest  extent;  and  I  add,  with  pecu- 


12      ,      POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

liar  satisfaction,  that  there  has  been  no  example  of  a  capital 
punishment  being  inflicled  on  any  one  for  the  crime  of 
high  treason. ' '  What  a  delightful  picture  of  power,  policy, 
and  prosperity!  Truly  the  wise  man's  proverb  is  just— 
"'•Sedaykauji  ter amain  goy,  veh-kasade  le-u-meem  khah- 
:  (Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a 
any  people. ) 

B,ut  this  is  not  all.  The  same  honorable  statesman; 
after'  having  had  about  forty  years'  experience  in  the 
Government,  under  the  full  tide  of  successful  experiment, 
gives  the  following  commendatory  assurance  of  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  .Magna  Cfiarta  to  answer  its  great  end  and 
aim^-^to  protect  the  people  in  their  rights.  "Such,  then, 
is  the  happy  Government  under  which  we  live;  a  Govern- 
ment adequate  to  every  purpose  for  which  the  social  com- 
pact is  formed;  at  government,  elective  in  all  its  branches, 
under  which  every  -citizen  may  by  his  merit  obtain  the 
highest;  trust  recognized  by  the  Constitution,  which  con- 
tains within  it  no  cause  of  discord,  none  to  put  at  variance 
one  portion  of  the  community  jvith  another;  a  Govern- 
ment  which  protects  every  citizen- in  the  full  enjpyment  ot 
his  rights, and  is  ableAto  protect  the  nation  against  injus- 
tice from  foreign- powers."  /-.f.-.  , 

Again,  the  young^rv/ Adams,  in  .the  .silver  age  of  our 
country 'svStdvancement;  to -fame,  .in  his  inaugural  address 
(1825)  thus  candidly. -^declares  the  majesty  of  the  youthful 
republic  in  its  increa^ii^g, greatness:—  ''The  year  of  jubilee, 
since  the  first  formation  of  our  union,  has  just  elapsed: 
that  of  the  Declamtian  of  Independence  is  at  hand.  The 
consummation  of  bpth  w.as  effected  by  this  Constitution. 
Since  that  periodr  a  population  of  four  millions  has  rnulti-7 
pHed  to  twelve.  A  Territory,  bounded  by  the  Mississippi, 
has  been  extended  from  sea  to  sea.  New  States  have  been 
admitted  to  the  Union,  in  numbers  nearly  equal  to  those  of 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  13 

the  first  confederation.  Treaties  of  peace,  amity,  and 
commerce  have  been  concluded  with  the  principal  domin- 
ions of  the  earth.  The  people  of  other  nations,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  regions  acquired,  not  by  conquest,  but  by  compact, 
have  been  united  with  us  in  the  participation  of  our  rights 
and  duties,  of  our  burdens  and  blessings.  The  forest  has 
fallen  by  the  axe  of  our  woodman.  The  soil  has  been 
made  to  teem  by  the  tillage  of  our  farmers.  Our  com- 
merce has  whitened  every  ocean.  The  dominion  of  man 
over  physical  nature  has  been  extended  by  the  invention  of 
our  artists.  Liberty  and  law  have  marched  hand  in  hand. 
All  the  purposes  of  human  association  have  been  accom- 
plished as  effectively  as  under  any  other  Government  on 
the  globe,  and  at  a  cost  little  exceeding,  in  a  whole  genera- 
tion, the  expenditures  of  other  nations  in  a  single  year." 

In  continuation  of  such  noble  sentiments,  General 
Jackson,  upon  his  ascension  to  the  great  chair  of  the  chief 
magistracy,  said,  "As  long  as  our  Government  is  adminis- 
tered for  the  good  of  the  people,  and  is  regulated  by  their 
will,  as  long  as  it  secures  to  us  the  rights  of  person  and 
property,  liberty  of  conscience,  and  of  the  press,  it  will  be 
worth  defending;  and  so  long  as  it  is  worth  defending,  a 
patriotic  militia  will  cover  it  with  an  impenetrable  <zgis." 

General  Jackson's  administration  may  be  denominated 
the  acme  of  American  glory,  liberty,  and  prosperity;  for 
the  national  debt,  which  in  1815*  on  account  of  the  late 
war,  was  $125,000,000,  and  being  lessened  gradually,  was 
paid  up  in  his  golden  day,  and  preparations  were  made  to 
distribute  the  surplus  revenue  among  the  several  States; 
and  that  august  patriot,  to  use  his  own  words  in  his  fare- 
well address,  retired,  leaving  "a  great  people  prosperous 
and  happy,  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  liberty  and  peace,  hon- 
ored and  respected  by  every  nation  of  the  world. ' ' 

At  the  age,  then,  of  sixty  years,  our  blooming  Repub- 


H  POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

lie  began  to  decline  under  the  withering  touch  of  Martin 
Van  Buren!  Disappointed  ambition,  thirst  for  power, 
pride,  corruption,  party  spirit,  faction,  patronage,  per- 
quisites, fame,  tangling  alliances,  priestcraft,  and  spiritual 
wickedness  in  high  places,  struck  hands  and  revelled  in 
midnight  splendor. 

Trouble,  vexation,  perplexity,  and  contention,  mingled 
with  hope,  fear,  and  murmuring,-  rumbled  through  the 
Union  and  agitated  the  whole  nation,  as  would  an  earth- 
quake at  the  centre  of  the  earth,  the  world  heaving  the  sea 
beyond  its  bounds  and  shaking  the  everlasting  hills;  so, 
in  hopes  of  better  times,  while  jealousy,  hypocritical  pre- 
tensions, and  pompous  ambition  were  luxuriating  on  the  ill- 
gotten  spoils  of  the  people,  they  rose  in  their  majesty  like 
a  tornado,  and  swept  through  the  land,  till  General  Harri- 
son appeared  as  a  star  among  the  storm-clouds  for  better 
weather. 

The  calm  came,  and  the  language  of  that  venerable 
patriot,  in  his  inaugural  address,  while  descanting  upon  the 
merits  of  the  Constitution  and  its  framers,  thus  expressed 
himself: — ' '  There  were  in  it  features  which  appeared  not 
to  be  in  harmony  with  their  ideas  of  a  simple  representative 
Democracy  or  Republic.  And  knowing  the  tendency  of 
power  to  increase  itself,  particularly  when  executed  by  a 
single  individual,  predictions  were  made  that,  at  no  very 
remote  period,  the  Government  would  terminate  in  virtual 
monarchy." 

It  would  not  become  me  to  say  that  the  fears  of  these 
patriots  have  been  already  realized.  But  as  I  sincerely 
believe  that  the  tendency  of  measures  and  of  men's  than- 
ions  for  some  years  past  has  been  in  that  direction,  it  is,  I 
conceive,  strictly  proper  that  I  should  take  this  occasion 
to  repeat  the  assurances  I  have  heretofore  given  of  my 
determination  to  arrest  the  progress  of  that  tendency,'  if  it 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  15 

really  exists,  and   restore  the  Government  to  its  pristine 
health  and  vigor. 

This  good  man  died  before  he  had  the  opportunity  of 
applying  one  balm  to  ease  the  pain  of  our  groaning  coun- 
try, and  I  am  willing  the  nation  should  be  the  judge, 
whether  General  Harrison,  in  his  exalted  station,  upon  the 
eve  of  his  entrance  into  the  world  of  spirits,  told  the  truth, 
or  not,  with  acling  President  Tyler's  three  years  of  per- 
plexity, and  pseudo- Whig- Democrat  reign  to  heal  the 
breaches  or  show  the  wounds,  secundum  artem  (according 
to  art). 

Subsequent  events,  all  things  considered,  Van  Buren's 
downfall,  Harrison's  exit,  and  Tyler's  self-sufficient  turn  to 
the  whole,  go  to  show,  as  a  Chaldean  might  exclaim  — 
'"  Beram  etai  elauh  beshmayauh  gauhah  rauzeen."  {Cer- 
tainly there  is  a  God  in  heaven  to  reveal  secrets.} 

No  honest  man  can  doubt  for  a  moment  but  the  glory 
of  American  liberty  is  on  the  wane,  and  that  calamity  and 
confusion  will  sooner  or  later  destroy  the  peace  of  the  peo- 
ple. Speculators  will  urge  a  national  bank  as  a  savior  of 
credit  and  comfort.  A  hireling  pseudo-priesthood  will 
plausibly  push  abolition  doctrines  and  doings  and  "  human 
rights ' '  into  Congress,  and  into  every  other  place  where 
conquest  smells  of  fame,  or  opposition  swells  to  popularity, 
Democracy,  Whiggery,  and  cliquery  will  attract  their  ele- 
ments and  foment  divisions  among  the  people,  to  accomplish 
fancied  schemes  and  accumulate  power,  while  poverty, 
driven  to  despair,  like  hunger  forcing  its  way  through  a  wall, 
will  break  through  the  statutes  of  men  to  save  life,  and 
mend  the  breach  in  prison  glooms. 

A  still  higher  grade  of  what  the  "nobility  of  nations  " 
call  "great  men"  will  dally  with  all  rights,  in  order  to 
smuggle  a  fortune  at  "  one  fell  swoop,"  mortgage  Texas, 
possess  Oregon,  and  claim  all  the  unsettled  regions  of  the 


16  POWERS  AND  P'OLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

world  for  hunting  and  trapping;  and  should  an  humble, 
honest  man,  red,  black,  or  white,  exhibit  a  better  title, 
these  gentry  have  only  to  clothe  the  judge  with  richer 
ermine,  and  spangle  the  lawyer's  finger  with  finer  rings,  to 
have  the  judgment  of  his  peers  and  the  honor  of  his  lords 
as  a  pattern  of  honesty,  virtue,  and  humanity,  while  the 
motto  hangs  on  his  nation's  escutcheon —  *'  Every  man  has 
his  price!'" 

Now,  O  people!  people!  turn  unto  the  Lord  and  live, 
and  reform  this  nation/  Frustrate  the  designs  of  wicked 
men.  Reduce  Congress  at  least  two-thirds.  Two  Sena- 
tors from  a  State  and  two  members  to  a  million  of  popula- 
tion will  do  more  business  than  the  army  that  now  occupy 
the  halls  of  the  national  Legislature.  Pay  them  two 
dollars  and  their  board  per  diem  (except  Sundays).  That 
is  more  than  the  farmer  gets,  and  he  lives  honestly.  Cur- 
tail the  officers  of  Government  in  pay,  number,  and  power; 
for  the  Philistine  lords  have  shorn  our  nation  of  its  goodly 
locks  in  the  lap  of  Delilah. 

Petition  your  State  Legislatures  to  pardon  every  con- 
vicl  in  their  several  penitentiaries,  blessing  them  as  they  go, 
and  saying  to  them,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  Go  thy  way, 
and  sin  no  more.  • 

Advise  your  legislators,  when  they  make  laws  for  lar- 
ceny, burglary,  or  any  felony,  to  make  the  penalty  appli- 
cable to  work  upon  roads,  public  works,  or  any  place 
where  the  culprit  can  be  taught  more  wisdom  and  more 
virtue,  and  become  more  enlightened.  Rigor  and  seclu- 
sion will  never  do  as  much  to  reform  the  propensities  of 
men  as  reason  and  friendship.  Murder  only  can  claim  con- 
finement or  death.  Let  the  penitentiaries  be  turned  into 
seminaries  of  learning,  where  intelligence,  like  the  angels 
of  heaven,  would  banish  such  fragments  of  barbarism. 
Imprisonment  for  debt  is  a  meaner  practice  than  the  sav- 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  17 


age  tolerates,  with  all  his  ferocity.      "Amor  vincit  omnia. ' ' 
(Love  conquers  all.) 

Petition,  also,  ye  goodly  inhabitants  of  the  slave 
States,  your  legislators  to  abolish  slavery  by  the  year 
1850,  or  now,  and  save  the  abolitionist  from  reproach  and 
ruin,  infamy  and  shame. 

Pray  Congress  to  pay  every  man  a  reasonable  price 
for  his  slaves  out  of  the  surplus  revenue  arising  from  the 
sale  of  public  lands,  and  from  the  deduction  of  pay  from 
the  members  of  Congress. 

Break  off  the  shackles  from  the  poor  black  man,  and 
hire  him  to  labor  like  other  human  beings;  for  "an  hour 
of  virtuous  liberty  on  earth  is  worth  a  whole  eternity  of 
bondage."  Abolish  the  practice  in  the  army  and  navy  of 
trying  men  by  court-martial  for  desertion.  If  a  soldier  or 
marine  runs  away,  send  him  his  wages,  with  this  instruction, 
that  his  country  will  never  trust  him  again;  he  has  forfeited 
his  honor. 

Make  HONOR  the  standard  with  all  men.  Be  sure  that 
good  is  rendered  for  evil  in  all  cases,  and  the  whole  nation, 
like  a  kingdom  of  kings  and  priests,  will  rise  up  in  right- 
eousness, and  be  respected  as  wise  and  worthy  on  earth, 
and  as  just  and  holy  for  heaven,  by  Jehovah,  the  author  of 
perfection. 

More  economy  in  the  National  and  State  governments 
would  make  less  taxes  among  the  people;  more  equality 
through  the  cities,  towns,  and  country,  would  make  less 
distinction  among  the  people;  and  more  honesty  and  famili- 
arity in  societies,  would  make  less  hypocrisy  and  flattery  in 
all  branches  of  the  community;  and  open,  frank,  candid  de- 
corum to  all  men,  in  this  boasted  land  of  liberty,  would  beget 
esteem,  confidence,  union  and  love;  and  the  neighbor  from 
any  State,  or  from  any  country,  of  whatever  color,  clime 
or  tongue,  could  rejoice  when  he  put  his  foot  on  the  sacred 


i8  POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

soil  of  freedom,  and  exclaim,  The  very  name  of  " American" 
is  fraught  with  friendship.  Oh,  then,  create  confidence! 
restore  freedom !  break  down  slavery!  banish  imprisonment 
for  debt,  and  be  in  love,  fellowship,  and  peace,  with  all  the 
world!  Remember  that  honesty  is  not  subject  to  law:  the 
law  was  made  for  transgressors;  wherefore,  a  Dutchman 
might  exclaim  —  ' '  Ein  ehrlicher  name  ist  besser  als  Reicht- 
hum."  (A  good  name  is  better  than  riches.) 

For  the  accommodation  of  the  people  in  every  State 
and  Territory,  let  Congress  show  their  wisdom  by  granting 
a  national  bank,  with  branches  in  each  State  and  Territory, 
where  the  capital  stock  shall  be  held  by  the  nation  for  the 
mother  bank,  and  by  the  States  and  Territories  for  the 
branches;  and  whose  officers  and  directors  shall  be  elected 
yearly  by  the  people,  with  wages  at  the  rate  of  two  dollars 
per  day  for  services;  which  several  banks  shall  never  issue 
any  more  bills  than  the  amount  of  capital  stock  in  her 
vaults  and  the  interest. 

The  nett  gain  of  the  mother  bank  shall  be  applied  to 
the  national  revenue,  and  that  of  the  branches  to  the  States 
and  Territories'  revenues.  And  the  bills  shall  be  par 
throughout  the  nation,  which  will  mercifully  cure  that  fatal 
disorder  known  in  cities  as  brokerage,  and  leave  the  peo- 
ple's money  in  their  own  pockets. 

Give  every  man  his  constitutional  freedom,  and  the 
President  full  power  to  send  an  army  to  suppress  mobs,  and 
the  States  authority  to  repeal  and  impugn  that  relic  of  folly 
which  makes  it  necessary  for  the  Governor  of  a  State  to 
make  the  demand  of  the  President  for  troops,  in  case  of 
invasion  or  rebellion. 

The  Governor  himself  may  be  a  mobber;  and  instead 
of  being  punished,  as  he  should  be,  for  murder  or  treason, 
he  may  destroy  the  very  lives,  rights,  and  property  he 
should  protect.  Like  the  good  Samaritan,  send  every  law- 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  19 


yer,  as  soon  as  he  repents  and  obeys  the  ordinances  of 
heaven,  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  destitute,  without 
purse  or  scrip,  pouring  in  the  oil  and  the  wine.  A  learned 
Priesthood  is  certainly  more  honorable  than  "an  hireling 
clergy. ' ' 

As  to  the  contiguous  Territories  to  the  United  States, 
wisdom  would  direct  no  tangling  alliance.  Oregon  belongs 
to  this  Government  honorably;  and  when  we  have  the  red 
man's  consent,  let  the  Union  spread  from  the  east  to  the 
west  sea;  and  if  Texas  petitions  Congress  to  be  adopted 
among  the  sons  of  liberty,  give  her  the  right  hand  of  fel- 
lowship, and  refuse  not  the  same  friendly  grip  to  Canada 
and  Mexico.  And  when  the  right  arm  of  freemen  is 
stretched  out  in  the  character  of  a  navy  for  the  projection 
of  rights,  commerce,  and  honor,  let  the  iron  eyes  of  power 
watch  from  Maine  to  Mexico,  and  from  California  to  Col- 
umbia. Thus  ijiay  union  be  strengthened,  and  foreign 
speculation  prevented  from  opposing  broadside  to  broad- 
side. 

Seventy  years  have  done  much  for  this  goodly  land. 
They  have  burst  the  chains  of  oppression  and  monarchy, 
and  multiplied  its  inhabitants  from  two  to  twenty  millions, 
with  a  proportionate  share  of  knowledge  keen  enough  to 
circumnavigate  the  globe,  draw  the  lightning  from  the 
clouds,  and  cope  with  all  the  crowned  heads  of  the 
world. 

Then  why  —  oh,  why  will  a  once-flourishing  people 
not  arise,  phoenix-like,  over  the  cinders  of  Martin  Van 
Buren's  power,  and  over  the  sinking  fragments  and  smok- 
ing ruins  of  other  catamount  politicians,  and  over  the  wind- 
falls of  Benton,  Calhoun,  Clay,  Wright,  arid  a  caravan  of 
other  equally  unfortunate  law  doctors,  and  cheerfully  help 
to  spread  a  plaster  and  bind  up  the  burnt,  bleeding  wounds 
of  a  sore  but  blessed  country  ? 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OP'  THE  GOVERNMENT. 


The  Southern  people  are  hospitable  and  noble.  They 
w.'ll  help  to  'rid-so  free  a  country  of  every  vestige  of  slavery, 
whenever  they  are  assured  of  an  equivalent  for  their  prop- 
erty. The  country  will  be  full  of  money  and  confidence 
when  a  National  Bank  of  twenty  millions,  and  a  State 
Bank  in  every  State,  with  a  million  or  more,  gives  a  tone 
to  monetary  matters,  and  make  a  circulating  medium  as 
valuable -in  the  purses  of  a  whole  community,  as  in  the 
coffers  of  a  speculating  banker  or  broker. 

The  people  may  have  faults,  but  they  should  never  be 
trifled  with.  I  think  Mr.  Pitt's  quotation  in  the  British 
Parliament  of  Mr.  Prior's  couplet  tor  the  husband  and 
wife,  to  apply  to  the  course  which  the  King  and  ministry 
of  England  should  pursue  to  the  then  colonies  of  the  now 
United  States,  might  be  a  genuine  rule  of  aclion  for  some 
of  the  breath-made  men  in  high  places  to  use  towards  the 
posterity  of  this  noble,  daring  people: —  * 

"  Be  to  her  faults  a  little  blind  ; 
Be  to  her  virtues  very  kind." 

We  have  had  Democratic  Presidents,  Whig  Presidents, 
a  pseudo-Democratic-Whig  President,  and  now  it  is  time 
to  have  a  President  of  the  United  States;  and  let  the  peo- 
ple of  the  whole  Union,  like  the  inflexible  Romans,  when- 
ever they  find  a  promise  made  by  a  candidate  that  is  not 
practised  as  an  officer,  hurl  the  miserable  sycophant  from 
his  exaltation,  as  God  did  Nebuchadnezzar,  to  crop  the 
grass  of  the  field  with  a  beast's  heart  among  the  cattle. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  said,  in  his  inaugural  address,  that  he 
went  "into  the  Presidential  chair  the  inflexible  and  uncom- 
promising opponent  of  every  attempt,  on  the  part  ol  Con- 
gress, to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
against  the  wishes  of  the  slave-holding  States,  and  also 
with  a  determination  equally  decided  to  resist  the  slightest 
interference  with  it  in  the  States  where  it  exists. ' ' 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 


Poor  little  Matty  made  this  rhapsodical  sweep  with  the 
facl  before  his  eyes,  that  the  State  of  New  York,  his  native 
State,  had  abolished  slavery  without  a  struggle  or  a  groan. 
Great  God,  how  independent!  From  henceforth  slavery  is 
tolerated  where  it  exists,  constitution  or  no  constitution, 
people  or  no  people,  right  or  wrong:  Vox  Matti — vox 
Diaboli  ("the  voice  of  Matty — the  voice  of  the  Devil)." 
And,  peradventure,  his  great  "sub-treasury"  scheme  was 
a  piece  of  the  same  mind.  But  the  man  arid  his  measures 
have  such  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  anecdote  of  the 
Welshman  and  his  cart-tongue,  that  when  the  Constitution 
was  so  long  that  it  allowed  slavery  ;>t  the  capitol  of  a  free 
people,  it  could  not  be  cut  off;  but  when  it  was  so  short 
that  it  needed  a  sub-treasury  to  save  the  funds  of  the  na- 
tion, it  could  be  spliced!  Oh,  granny,  granny,  what  a  long 
tail  our  puss  has  got!  As  a  Greek  might  say,  Hysteron 
proteron,  (the  cart  before  the  horse).  But  his  mighty  whisk 
through  the  great  national  fire,  for  the  presidential  chest- 
.nuts,  burnt  the  locks  of  his  glory  with  the  blaze  of  his  folly! 

In  the  United  States  the  people  are  the  Government, 
and  their  united  voice  is  the  only  sovereign  that  should 
rule,  the  only  power  that  should  be  obeyed,  and  the  only 
gentlemen  that  should  be  honored  at  home  and  abroad,  on 
the  land  and  on  the  sea.  Wherefore,  were  I  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  by  the  voice  of  a  virtuous  people,  I 
would  honor  the  old  paths  of  the  venerated  fathers  of  free- 
dom; I  would  walk  in  the  tracks  of  the  illustrious  patriots 
who  carried  the  ark  of  the  Government  upon  their  shoulders 
with  an  eye  single  to  the  glory  of  the  people;  and  when 
that  people  petitioned  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  slave  States, 
I  would  use  all  honorable  means  to  have  their  prayers 
granted,  and  give  liberty  to  the  captive  by  paying  the 
Southern  gentlemen  a  reasonable  equivalent  for  his  prop- 
erty, that  the  whole  nation  might  be  free  indeed! 


POWERS  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 


When  the  people  petitioned  for  a  National  Bank,  I 
would  use  my  best  endeavors  to  have  their  prayers 
answered,  and  establish  one  on  national  principles  to  save 
taxes,  and  make  them  the  controllers  of  its  ways  and 
means.  And  when  the  people  petitioned  to  possess  the 
Territory  of  Oregon,  or  any  other  contiguous  Territory, 
I  would  lend  the  influence  of  a  Chief  Magistrate  to  grant 
so  reasonable  a  request,  that  they  might  extend  the  mighty 
efforts  and  enterprise  of  a  free  people  from  the  east  to  the 
west  sea,  and  make  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  rose. 
And  when  a  neighboring  realm  petitioned  to  join  the  union 
of  the  sons  of  liberty,  my  voice  would  be,  Come — yea, 
come,  Texas;  come,  Mexico;  come,  Canada;  and  come, 
all  the  world;  let  us  be  brethern,  let  us  be  one  great  family, 
and  let  there  be  a  universal  peace. 

Abolish  the  cruel  custom  of  prisons  (except  certain 
cases),  penitentiaries,  court-martials  for  desertion;  and  let 
reason  and  friendship  reign  over  the  ruins  of  ignorance 
and  barbarity;  yea,  I  would,  as  the  universal  friend  of 
man,  open  the  prisons,  open  the  eyes,  open  the  ears,  and' 
open  the  hearts  of  all  people,  to  behold  and  enjoy  free- 
dom—  unadulterated  freedom;  and  God,  who  once 
cleansed  the  violence  of  the  earth  with  a  flood,  whose  Son 
laid  down  His  life  for  the  salvation  of  all  His  Father  gave 
Him  out  of  the  world,  and  who  has  promised  that  He  will 
come  and  purify  the  world  again  with  fire  in  the  last  days, 
should  be  supplicated  by  me  for  the  good  of  all  people. 

With  the  highest  esteem,  I  am  a  friend  of  virtue  and 
of  the  people, 

JOSEPH   SMITH. 
NAUVOO,   ILLINOIS,   Feb.   7,  1844. 


BETWEEN 


THE  PROPHET  JOSEPH  SMITH 


AND     THE 


HONS.  J.  C.  CALHOUN  &  HENRY  CLAY 

AND   OTHER   PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATES. 

NAUVOO,  ILL.,  Nov.  4th,  1843. 
HON.  JOHN  C.  CALHOUN. 

Dear  Sir:  —  As  we  understand  you  are  a  candidate  for 
the  Presidency  at  the  next  election;  and  as  the  Latter-day 
Saints  (sometimes  called  ' '  Mormons, ' '  who  now  constitute 
a  numerous  class  in  the  school  politic  of  this  vast  republic,} 
have  been  robbed  of  an  immense  amount  of  property,  and 
endured  nameless  sufferings  by  the  State  of  Missouri,  and 
from  her  borders  have  been  driven  by  force  of  arms,  con- 
trary to  our  national  covenants;  and  as  in  vain  we  have 
sought  redress  by  all  constitutional,  legal,  and  honorable 
means,  in  her  courts,  her  executive  councils,  and  her 
legislative  halls;  and  as  we  have  petitioned  Congress  to 
take  cognizance  of  our  sufferings  without  effect,  we  have 
judged  it  wisdom  to  address  you  this  communication,  and 
solicit  an  immediate,  specific,  and  candid  reply  to  "  What 
will  be  your  rule  of  action  relative  to  us  as  a  people,'" 
should  fortune  favor  your  ascension  to  the  chief  magistracy? 

Most  respectfully,  sir,  your  friend,  and  the  friend  of 
peace,  good  order,  and  constitutional  rights, 

JOSEPH   SMITH. 

In  behalf  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints. 


24  CORRESPONDENCE. 


'  Similar  letters  were  written  to  General  LEWIS  CASS, 
Hon.  RICHARD  M.  JOHNSON,  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  and 
President  MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  The  following  paragraph 
was  added  to  the  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  VAN  BUREN  : 

"Also  whether  your  views  or  feelings  have  changed 
since  the  subject  matter  of  this  communication  was  pre- 
sented you  in  your  then  official  capacity  at  Washington,  in 
the  year  1841,  and  by  you  treated  with  a  coldness,  indiffer- 
ence, and  neglect,  bordering  on  contempt." 


J.  C.  CALHOUN'S  REPLY. 

FORT  HILL,  2nd  December,  1843. 

Sir:  —  You  ask  me  what  would  be  my  rule  of  action  rel- 
ative to  the  Mormons  or  Latter-day  Saints,  should  I  be 
elected  President;  to  which  I  answer,  that  if  I  should  be 
elected,  I  would  strive  to  administer  the  government  ac- 
cording to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  Union; 
and  that  as  they  make  no  distinction  between  citizens  of 
different  religious  creeds,  I  should  make  none.  As  far  as 
it  depends  on  the  Executive  department,  all  should  have 
the  full  benefit  of  both,  and  none  should  be  exempt  from 
their  operation. 

But  as  you  refer  to  the  case  of  Missouri,  candor  com- 
pels me  to  repeat  wrhat  I  said  to  you  at  Washington,  that, 
according  to  my  views,  the  case  does  not  come  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  Government,  which  is  one  of 
limited  and  specific  powers. 

With  respect,  I  am,  &c.,  &c., 

J.    C.    CALHOUN. 
Mr.   JOSEPH   SMITH. 


CORRESPONDENCE.  25 


JOSEPH  SMITH'S  REJOINDER  TO  J.  C.  CALHOUN. 

NAUVOO,   ILLINOIS, 

January  2,    1844. 

Sit :  —  Your  reply  to  my  letter  of  last  November,  con- 
cerning your  rule  of  action  towards  the  Latter-day  Saints, 
if  elected  President,  is  at  hand;  and  that  you  and  your 
friends  of  the  same  opinion  relative  to  the  matter  in  ques- 
tion may  not  be  disappointed  as  to  me  or  my  mind  upon 
so  grave  a  subject,  permit  me,  as  a  law-abiding  man,  as  a 
well-wisher  to  the  perpetuity  of  constitutional  rights  and 
liberty,  and  as  a  friend  to  the  free  worship  of  Almighty 
God  by  all,  according  to  the  dictates  of  every  person's 
own  conscience,  to  say  I  am  surprised  that  a  man  or  men 
in  the  highest  stations  of  public  life  should  have  made  up 
such  a  fragile  "view"  of  a  case,  than  which  there  is  not 
one  on  the  face  of  the  globe  fraught  with  so  much  conse- 
quence to  the  happiness  of  men  in  this  world  or  the  world 
to  come. 

To  be  sure,  the  first  paragraph  of  your  letter  appears 
very  complacent  and  fair  on  a  white  sheet  of  paper.  And 
who,  that  is  ambitious  for  greatness  and  power,  would  not 
have  said  the  same  thing?  Your  oath  would  bind  you  to 
support  the  Constitution  and  laws;  and  as  all  creeds  and 
religions  are  alike  tolerated,  they  must,  of  course,  all  be 
justified  or  condemned  according  to  merit  or  demerit. 
But  why  —  tell  me  why  are  all  the  principal  men  held  up 
for  public  stations  so  cautiously  careful  not  to  publish  to 
the  world  that  they  will  judge  a  righteous  judgment,  law 
or  no  law?  for  laws  and  opinions,  like  the  vanes  of 
steeples,  change  with  the  wind. 

One  Congress  passes   a  law,    another  repeals    it;  and 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


one  statesman  says  that  the  Constitution  means  this,  and 
another  that;  and  who  does  not  know  that  all  may  be 
wrong?  The  opinion  and  pledge,  therefore,  in  the  first 
paragraph  of  your  reply  to  my  question,  like  the  forced 
steam  from  the  engine  of  a  steam-boat,  makes  the  show  of 
a  bright  cloud  at  first;  but  when  it  comes  in  contact  with  a 
purer  atmosphere,  dissolves  to  common  air  again. 

Your  second  paragraph  leaves  you  naked  before  your- 
self, like  a  likeness  in  a  mirror,  when  you  say  that,  ' k  accord- 
ing to  your  view,  the  Federal  Government  is  one  of  limited 
and  specific  powers,"  and  has  no  jurisdiction  in  the  case  of 
the  "  Mormons."  So  then  a  State  can  at  any  time  expel 
any  portion  of  her  citizens  with  impunity,  and,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  frosted  over  with  your  gracious 
^  views  of  the  case,"'  though  the  cause  is  ever  so  just,  Gov- 
ernment can  do  nothing  for  them,  because  it  has  no  power. 

Go  on,  then  Missouri,  after  another  set  of  inhabitants 
(as  the  Latter-day  Saints  did,)  have  entered  some  two  or 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  land,  and  made 
extensive  improvements  thereon.  Go  on,  then,  I  say; 
banish  the  occupants  or  owners,  or  kill  them,  as  the  mob- 
bers  did  many  of  the  Latter-day  Saints,  and  take  their  land 
and  property  as  spoil;  and  let  the  Legislature,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  "Mormons,"  appropriate  a  couple  of  hundred 
thousand  dollars  to  pay  the  mob  for  doing  that  job;  for  the 
renowned  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  Mr.  J.  C.  Calhoun, 
says  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government  are  so  specific 
and  limited  that  it  has  no  jurisdiction  of  the  case!  O  ye 
people  who  groan  under  the  oppression  of  tyrants!  —  ye 
exiled  Poles,  who  have  felt  the  iron  hand  of  Russian  grasp ! 
—  ye  poor  and  unfortunate  among  all  nations!  come  to  the 
asylum  of  the  oppressed;  buy  ye  lands  of  the  General 
Government;  pay  in  your  money  to  the  treasury  to 
strengthen  the  army  and  the  navy;  worship  God  according 


CORRESPONDENCE.  27 

to  the  dictates  of  your  own  consciences;  pay  in  your  taxes 
to  support  the  great  heads  of  a  glorious  nation:  but  remem- 
ber, a  ''sovereign  State"  is  so  much  more  powerful  than 
the  United  States,  the  parent  Government,  that  it  can  exile 
you  at  pleasure,  mob  you  with  impunity,  confiscate  your 
lands  and  property,  have  the  Legislature  sanction  it,  —  yea, 
even  murder  you  as  an  edicl;  of  an  emperor,  and  it  does  no 
wrong;  for  the  noble  Senator  of  South  Carolina  says  the 
power  of  the  Federal  Government  is  so  limited  and  specific, 
that  it  has  no  jurisdiction  of  the  case!  What  think  ye  of 
imperium  in  imperiof  (_ 

Ye  spirits  of  the  blessed  of  all  ages,  hark!  Ye  shades 
of  departed  statesmen,  listen!  Abraham,  Moses,  Homer, 
Socrates,  Solon,  Solomon,  and  all  that  ever  thought  of 

o 

right  and  wrong,  look  clown  from  your  exaltations,  if  you 
have  any,  for  it  is  said  in  the  midst  of  counsellors  there 
is  safety;  and  when  you  have  learned  that  fifteen  thousand 
innocent  citizens,  after  having  purchased  their  lands  of  the 
United  States,  and  paid  for  them,  were  expelled  from  a 
"sovereign  State"  by  order  of  the  Governor  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet,  their  arms  taken  from  them  by  the  same 
authority,  and  their  right  of  migration  into  said  State 
denied  under  pain  of  imprisonment,  whipping,  robbing, 
mobbing,  and  even  death,  and  no  justice  or  recompense 
allowed  ;  and  from  the  legislature,  with  the  Governor  at 
the  head,  down  to  the  justice  of  the  peace,  with  a  bottle 
of  whisky  in  one  hand  and  a  bowie  knife  in  the  other, 
hear  them  all  declare  that  there  is  no  justice  for  a  "Mor- 
mon" in  that  State,  and  judge  ye  a  righteous  judgment, 
and  tell  me  when  the  virtue  of  the  States  was  stolen,  where 
the  honor  of  the  General  Government  lies  hid,  and  what 
clothes  a  senator  with  wisdom?  Oh,  nullifying  Carolina! 
Oh,  little  tempestuous  Rhode  Island!  would  it  not  be  well 
for  the  great  men  of  the  nation  to  read  the  fable  of  the 


28  CORRESPONDENCE, 


Partial  Judge,  and  when  part  of  the  free  citizens  of  a  State 
had  been  expelled  contrary  to  the  Constitution,  mobbed, 
robbed,  plundered,  and  many  murdered,  instead  of  search- 
ing into  the  course  taken  with  Joanna  Southcott,  Ann  Lee, 
the  French  prophets,  the  Quakers  of  New  England,  and 
rebellious  niggers  in  the  slave  States,  to  hear  both  sides  and 
then  judge,  rather  than  have  the  mortification  to  say,  "Oh, 
it  is  my  bull  that  had  killed  your  ox!  -  That  alters  the  case! 
I  must  inquire  into  it;  and  if,  and  if — 

If  the  General  Government  has  no  power  to  reinstate 
expelled  citizens  to  their  rights,  there  is  a  monstrous 
hypocrite  fed  and  fostered  from  the  hard  earnings  of  the 
people!  A  real  "bull  beggar"  upheld  by  sycophants. 
And  although  you  may  wink  to  the  priests  to  stigmatize, 
wheedle  the  drunkards  to  swear,  and  raise  the  hue-and-cry 
of — "Impostor!  false  prophet!  G-d  d — n  old  Joe  Smith!" 
yet  remember,  if  the  Latter-day  Saints  are  not  restored  to 
all  their  rights  and  paid  for  all  their  losses,  according  to 
the  known  rules  of  justice  and  judgment,  reciprocation 
and  common  honesty  among  men,  that  God  will  come  out 
of  his  hiding-place,  and  vex  this  nation  with  a  sore  vex- 
ation: yea,  the  consuming  wrath  of  an  offended  God  shall 
smoke  through  the  nation  with  as  much  distress  and  woe  as 
independence  has  blazed  through  with  pleasure  and  delight. 
Where  is  the  strength  of  Government?  Where  is  the 
patriotism  of  a  Washington,  a  Warren,  and  Adams  ?  And 
where  is  a  spark  from  the  watch-fire  of  '76,  by  which  one 
candle  might  be  lit  that  would  glimmer  upon  the  confines 
of  Democracy?  Well  may  it  be  said  that  one  man  is  not  a 
state,  nor  one  state  the  nation. 

In  the  days  of  General  Jackson,  when  France  refused 
the  first  installment  for  spoliations,  there  was  power,  force, 
and  honor  enough  to  resent  injustice  and  insult,  and  the 
money  came;  and  shall  Missouri,  filled  with  negro-drivers 


CORRESPONDENCE.  29 


and  white  men  stealers,  go  "unwhipped  of  justice"  for  ten- 
fold greater  sins  than  France?  No!  verily,  no!  While  I  have 
powers  of  body  and  mind  —  while  water  runs  and  grass 
grows  —  while  virtue  is  lovely  and  vice  hateful,  and  while  a 
stone  points  out  a  sacred  spot  where  a  fragment  of  Ameri- 
can liberty  once  was,  I  or  my  posterity  will  plead  the  cause 
of  injured  innocence,  until  Missouri  makes  atonement  for 
all  her  sins,  and  sinks  disgraced,  degraded,  and  damned 
to  hell,  "where  the  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not 
quenched." 

Why,  sir,  the  power  not  delegated  to  the  United 
States  and  the  States  belong  to  the  people,  and  Congress 
sent  to  do  the  people's  business  have  all  power;  and  shall 
fifteen  thousand  citizens  groan  in  exile?  O  vain  men!  will 
ye  not,  if  ye  do  not  restore  them  to  their  rights  and 
$2,000,000  worth  of  property,  relinquish  to  them,  (the  Lat- 
ter-day Saints,)  as  a  body,  their  portion  of  power  that 
belongs  to  them  according  to  the  Constitution?  Power 
has  its  convenience  as  well  as  inconvenience.  "The  world 
was  not  made  for  Caesar  alone,  but  for  Titus  too." 

I  will  give  you  a  parable.  A  certain  lord  had  a  vine- 
yard in  a  goodly  land,  which  men  labored  in  at  their  pleas- 
ure. A  few  meek  men  also  went  and  purchased  with 
money  from  some  of  these  chief  men  that  labored  at  pleas- 
ure a  portion  of  land  in  the  vineyard,  at  a  very  remote 
part  of  it,  and  began  to  improve  it  and  to  eat  and  drink  the 
fruit  thereof, —  when  some  vile  persons,  who  regarded  not 
man,  neither  feared  the  lord  of  the  vineyard,  rose  up  sud- 
denly and  robbed  these  meek  men,  and  drove  them  from 
dieir  possessions,  killing  many. 

This  barbarous  acl  made  no  small  stir  among  the  men 
in  the  vineyard;  and  all  that  portion  who  were  attatched  to 
that  part  of  the  vineyard  where  the  men  were  robbed  rose 
up  in  grand  council,  with  their  chief  men,  who  had  firstly 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


ordered  the  deed  to  be  done,  and  made  a  covenant  not  to 
pay  for  the  cruel  deed,  but  to  keep  the  spoil,  and  never  let 
those  meek  men  set  their  feet  on  that  soil  again,  neither 
recompense  them  for  it. 

Now  these  meek  men,  in  their  distress,  wisely  sought 
redress  of  those  wicked  men  in  every  possible  manner,  and 
got  none.  Then  they  supplicated  the  chief  men  who  held 
the  vineyard  at  pleasure,  and  who-  had  the  power  to  sell 
and  defend  it,  for  redress  and  redemption,  and  those  men, 
loving  the  fame  and  favor  of  the  multitude  more  than  the 
glory  of  the  lord  of  the  vineyard,  answered,  "Your  cause 
is  just;  but  we  can  do  nothing  for  you,  because  we  have 
no  power." 

Now,  when  the  lord  of  the  vineyard  saw  that  virtue 
and  innocence  was  not  regarded,  and  his  vineyard  occu- 
pied by  wicked  men,  he  sent  men  and  took  the  possession 
of  it  to  himself,  and  destroyed  these  unfaithfnl  servants, 
and  appointed  them  their  portion  among  hypocrites. 

And  let  me  say  that  all  men  who  say  that  Congress  has 
no  power  to  restore  and  defend  the  rights  of  her  citizens 
have  not  the  love  of  the  truth  abiding  in  them.  Congress 
has  power  to  protect  the  nation  against  foreign  invasion 
and  internal  broil;  and  whenever  that  body  passes  an  acl: 
to  maintain  right  with  any  power,  or  to  restore  right  to  any 
portion  of  her  citizens,  it  is  the  SUPREME  LAW  OF  THE 
LAND;  and  should  a  State  refuse  submission,  that  State  is 
guilty  of  insurrection  or  rebellion,  and  the  President  has  as 
much  power  to  repel  it  as  Washington  had  to  march  against 
the  "  whisky  boys  at  Pittsburg,"  or  General  Jackson  had  to 
send  an  armed  force  to  suppress  the  rebellion  of  South 
Carolina. 

To  close,  I  would  admonish  you,  before  you  let  your 
" candor  compel"  you  again  to  write  upon  a  subject  great 
as  the  salvation  of  man,  consequential  as  the  -life  of  the 


CORRESPONDENCE.  31 


Savior,  broad  as  the  principles  of  eternal  truth,  and  valu- 
able as  the  jewels  of  eternity,  to  read  in  the  8th  seclion  and 
ist  article  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  theyfr^', 
fourteenth,  and  seventeenth  "specific"  and  not  very  "lim- 
ited powers"  of  the  Federal  Government,  what  can  be 
done  to  protecl  the  lives,  property,  and  rights  of  a  virtuous 
people,  when  the  administrators  of  the  law  and  law-makers 
are  unbought  by  bribes,  uncorrupted  by  patronage,  un- 
tempted  by  gold,  unawed  by  fear,  and  uncontaminated 
by  tangling  alliances  —  even  like  Caesar's  wife,  not  only 
unspotted,  but  unsuspefled!  And  God,  who  cooled  the 
heat  of  a  Nebuchadnezzar's  furnace  or  shut  the  mouths  of 
lions  for  the  honor  of  a  Daniel,  will  raise  your  mind  above 
the  narrow  notion  that  the  General  Government  has  no 
power,  to  the  sublime  idea  that  Congress,  with  the  Presi- 
dent as  Executor,  is  as  almighty  in  its  sphere  as  Jehovah  is 
in  His. 

With  great  respect,  I  have  the  honor  to  be 
Your  obedient  servant, 

JOSEPH    SMITH. 

Hon.  ("Mr.")  J.  C.  CALHOUN,  Fort  Hill,  S.  C. 


32  CORRESPONDENCE. 


REPLY  OF  HENRY  CLAY. 

ASHLAND,  Nov.  i5th,  1843. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  have  received  your  letter  in  behalf  of 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints,  stating 
that  you  understand  that  I  am  a  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency, and  inquiring  what  would  be  my  rule  of  action  rel- 
ative to  you  as  a  people,  should  I  be  elected. 

I  am  profoundly  grateful  for  the  numerous  and  strong 
expressions  of  the  people  in  my  behalf,  as  a  candidate  for 
President  of  the  United  States;  but  I  do  not  so  consider 
myself.  That  much  depends  upon  future  events,  and  upon 
my  sense  ol  duty. 

Should  I  be  a  candidate,  I  can  enter  into  no  engage- 
ments, make  no  promises,  give  no  pledges  to  any  particular 
portion  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  If  I  ever  enter 
into  that  high  office,  I  must  go  into  it  free  and  unfettered, 
with  no  guarantees  but  such  as  are  to  be  drawn  from  my 
whole  life,  character,  and  conduct. 

It  is  not  inconsistent  with  this  declaration  to  say  that  I 
have  viewed  with  a  li\ely  interest  the  progress  of  the 
Latter-day  Saints;  that  I  have  sympathized  in  their  suffer- 
ings under  injustice,  as  it  appeared  to  me,  which  has  been 
inflicted  upon  them;  and  that  I  think,  in  common  with 
all  other  religious  communities,  they  ought  to  enjoy  the 
security  and  protection  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 

I  am  with  great  respect, 

Your  friend  and  obedient   servant, 

H.    CLAY. 
To  JOSEPH   SMITH,   Esq. 


CORRESPONDENCE.  33 


JOSEPH  SMITH'S  REJOINDER  TO  HENRY  CLAY, 

NAUVOO,    ILLINOIS, 

May  1 3th,  1844. 

Sir:  —  Your  answer  to  my  inquiry,  "What  would  be 
your  rule  of  a6tion  towards  the  Latter-day  Saints,  should 
you  be  elecled  President  of  the  United  States?"  has  been 
under  consideration  since  last  November,  in  the  fond  ex- 
peclation  that  you  would  give  (for  every  honest  citizen  has 
a  right  to  demand  it,)  to  the  country  a  manifesto  of  your 
views  of  the  best  method  and  means  which  would  secure  to 
the  people,  the  whole  people,  the  most  freedom,  the  most 
happiness,  the  most  union,  the  most  wealth,  the  most  fame, 
the  most  glory  at  home,  and  the  most  honor  abroad,  at  the 
least  expense.  But  I  have  waited  in  vain.  So  far  as  you 
have  made  public  declarations,  they  have  made,  like  your 
answer  to  the  above,  soft  to  flatter,  rather  than  solid  to  feed 
the  people.  You  seem  to  abandon  all  former  policy  which 
may  have  actuated  you  in  the  discharge  of  a  statesman's 
duty,  when  the  vigor  of  intellect  and  the  force  of  virtue 
should  have  sought  out  an  everlasting  habitation  for  liberty; 
when,  as  a  wise  man,  a  true  patriot,  and  a  friend  to  man- 
kind, you  should  have  resolved  to  ameliorate  the  lawful 
condition  of  our  bleeding  country  by  a  mighty  plan  of  wis- 
dom, righteousness,  justice,  goodness,  and  mercy,  that 
would  have  brought  back  the  golden  days  of  our  nation's 
youth,  vigor,  and  vivacity,  when  prosperity  crowned  the 
efforts  of  a  youthful  republic,  when  the  gentle  aspirations 
of  the  sons  of  liberty  were,  'l We  are  one!" 

In  your  answer  to  my  questions  last  fall,  that  peculiar 
tacl;  of  modern  politicians  declaring,  "  If  you  ever  enter 
into  that  high  ojfice,  you  must  go  into  it  free  and  unfetterd, 


34  CORRESPONDENCE. 


with  no  guarantees  but  such  as  are  to  be  drawn  from  your 
whole  life,  character,  and  conduct,"  so  much  resembles  a 
lottery- vendor's  sign,  with  the  goddess  of  good  luck  sit- 
ting on  the  car  of  fortune,  a-straddle  of  the  horns  of 
plenty,  and  driving  the  merry  steeds  of  beatitude,  without 
reins  or  bridle,  that  I  cannot  help  exclaiming  —  O  frail 
man,  what  have  you  done  that  will  -exalt  you?  Can  any- 
thing be  drawn  from  your  life,  character,  or  conduct,  that 
is  worthy  of  being  held  up  to  the  gaze  of  this  nation  as  a 
model  of  virtue,  charity,  and  wisdom  ?  Are  you  not  a  lot- 
tery picture,  with  more  than  two  blanks  to  a  prize  ?  Leav- 
ing many  things  prior  to  your  Ghent  treaty,  let  the  world 
look  at  that,  and  see  where  is  the  wisdom,  honor,  and 
patriotism,  which  ought  to  have  characterized  the  plenipo- 
tentiary of  the  only  free  nation  upon  the  earth  ?  A 
quarter  of  a  century's  negotiation  to  obtain  our  rights  on 
the  north-eastern  boundary,  and  the  motley  manner  in 
which  Oregon  tries  to  shine  as  American  territory,  coupled 
with  your  presidential  race  and  come-by-chance  secretary- 
ship, in  1825,  all  go  to  convince  the  friends  of  freedom, 
the  golden  patriots  of  Jeffersonian  Democracy,  free  trade 
and  sailor's  rights,  and  the  protectors  of  person  and  prop- 
erty, that  an  honorable  war  is  better  than  a  dishonorable 
peace. 

But  had  you  really  wanted  to  have  exhibited  the  wis- 
dom, clemency,  benevolence,  and  dignity  of  a  great  man 
in  this  boasted  republic,  when  fifteen  thousand  free  citizens 
were  exiled  from  their  own  homes,  lands,  and  property,  in 
the  wonderful  patriotic  State  of  Missouri,  and  you  then 
upon  your  oath  and  honor  occupying  the  exalted  station  of 
a  Senator  of  Congress  from  the  noble-hearted  State  of 
Kentucky,  why  did  you  not  show  the  world  your  loyalty  to 
law  and  order,  by  using  all  honorable  means  to  restore  the 
innocent  to  their  rights  and  property?  Why,  sir,  the  more 


CORRESPONDENCE.  35 


we  search  into  your  character  and  conduct,  the  more  we 
must  exclaim  from  holy  writ,  The  tree  is  known  by  its 
fruit. 

Again:  this  is  not  all.  Rather  than  show  yourself  an 
honest  man,  by  guaranteeing  to  the  people  what  you  will 
do  in  case  you  should  be  elected  President,  "you  can  enter 
into  no  engagement,  make  no  promises,  and  give  no 
pledges"  as  to  what  you  will  do.  Well,  it  may  be  that 
some  hot-headed  partisan  would  take  such  nothingarianism 
upon  trust;  but  sensible  men  and  even  ladies  would  think 
themselves  insulted  by  such  an  evasion  of  coming  events! 
If  a  tempest  is  expected,  why  not  prepare  to  meet  it,  and, 
in  the  language  of  the  poet,  exclaim  — 

"  Then  let  the  trial  come,  and  witness  thou 
If  terror  be  upon  me,  if  I  shrink 
Or  falter  in  my  strength  to  meet  the  storm, 
When  hardest  it  besets  me." 

True  greatness  never  wavers;  but  when  the  Missouri 
compromise  was  entered  into  by  you,  for  the  benefit  of 
slavery,  there  was  a  mighty  shrinkage  of  western  honor; 
and  from  that  day,  sir,  the  sterling  Yankee,  the  struggling 
Abolitionist,  and  the  staunch  Democrat,  with  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  liberal-minded  Whigs,  have  marked  you  as  a 
blackleg  in  politics,  begging  for  a  chance  to  shuffle  your- 
self into  the  presidential  chair,  where  you  might  deal  out 
the  destinies  oi  our  beloved  country  for  a  game  of  brag, 
that  would  end  in  l '  Hark,  from  the  tombs  a  doeful  sound. ' ' 
Start  not  at  this  picture,  for  your  ' '  whole  life,  character, 
and  conduct,"  have  been  spotted  with  deeds  that  cause  a 
blush  upon  the  face  of  a  virtuous  patriot.  So  you  must  be 
contented  in  your  lot,  while  crime,  cowardice,  cupidity,  or 
low  cunning,  have  handed  you  down  from  the  high  tower 
of  a  statesman  to  the  black  hole  of  a  gambler. 


36  CORRESPONDENCE. 


A  man  that  accepts  a  challenge,  or  fights  a  duel,  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  murderer,  for  the  holy  writ 
declares  that  ^  whoso  sheds  mari  s  blood,  by  man  shall  his 
blood  be  shed;"  and  when,  in  the  renowned  city  of  Wash- 
ington, the  notorious  Henry  Clay  dropped  from  the  sum- 
mit of  a^sen-atcfr  to  the  sink  of  a  scoundrel,  to  shoot  at  that 
chalk  line  of  a  Randolph,  he  not  only  disgraced  his  own 
fame;  family,  and  friends,  but  he  polluted  the  sanftum  sanc- 
torum of  American  glory;  and  the  kingly  blackguards 
throughout  the  whole  world  are  pointing  the  finger  of  scorn 
at  the  boasted  "  asylum  of  the  oppressed,"  and  hissing  at 
American  statesmen,  as  gentlemen  vagabonds  and 'murderers, 
holding  the  olive  branch  of  peace  in  one  hand  and  a  pistol 
for  death  in  the  other!  Well  might  the  Savior  rebuke  the 
heads  of  this  nation  with  Wo  unto  you  Scribes,  Pharisees, 
Hypocrites,  for  the  United  States  Government  and  Congress, 
with  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  have  gone  the  way  of 
Cain,  and  must  perish  in  their  gainsayings,  like  Korah  and 
his  wicked  host.  And  honest  men  of  every  clime,  and  the 
innocent,  poor,  and  oppressed,  as  well  as  Heathens,  Pa- 
gans, and  Indians,  everywhere,  who  could  but  hope  that 
the  tree  of  liberty  would  yield  some  precious  fruit  for  the 
hungry  human  race,  and  shed  some  balmy  leaves  for  the 
healing  of  nations,  have  long  since  given  up  all  hopes  of 
equal  rights,  of  justice,  and  judgment,  and  of  truth  and 
virtue,  when  such  polluted,  vain,  heaven-daring,  bogus 
patriots,  are  forced  or  flung  into  the  front  rank  of  govern- 
ment, to  guide  the  destinies  of  millions.  Crape  the 
heavens  with  weeds  of  woe,  gird  the  earth  with  sackcloth, 
and  let  hell  mutter  one  melody  in  commemoration  of  fallen 
splendor!  For  the  glory  of  America  has  departed,  and 
God  will  set  a  flaming  sword  to  guard  the  tree  of  liberty, 
while  such  mint-tithing  Herods  as  Van  Buren,  Boggs,  Ben- 
ton,  Calhoun,  and  Clay,  are  thrust  out  of  the  realms  of 


CORRESPONDENCE.  37 


virtue,  as  fit  subjects  for  the   kingdom   of  fallen  greatness; 
vox  reprobi,  vox  Diaboli ! 

In  your  late  addresses  to  the  people  of  South  Carolina, 
where  rebellion  budded,  but  could  not  blossom,  you  "re- 
nounced ultraism,"  "high  tariff,"  and  almost  banished 
your  "banking  systems"  for  the  more  certain  standard  of 
"public  opinion."  This  is  all  very  well,  and  marks  the 
intention  of  a  politician,  the  calculations  of  a  demagogue, 
and  the  allowance  for  leeings  of  a  shrewd  manager,  just  as 
truly  as  the  weathercock  does  the  wind  when  it  turns  upon 
the  spire.  Hustings  for  the  south,  barbacues  for  the  west, 
confidential  letters  for  the  north,  and  "American  system" 
for  the  east. 

"  Lull-a-by  baby  upon  the  tree  top, 

And  when  the  wind  blows  the  cradle  will  rock." 

Suppose  you  should  also,  taking  your  "whole  life, 
character,  and  conduct,"  into  consideration,  and,  as  many 
hands  make  light  work,  stir  up  the  old  "Clay  party,"  the 
"  National  Republican  party,"  the  "  High  Protective  Tariff 
party,"  and  the  late  "Coon  Skin  party,"  with  all  their 
paraphernalia,  ultraism,  ne  plus  ultraism,  sine  qua  non, 
which  have  grown  with  your  growth,  strengthened  with 
your  strength,  and  shrunk  with  your  shrinkage,  and  ask 
the  people  of  this  enlightened  Republic,  what  they  think 
of  your  powers  and  policy  as  a  statesman;  for  verily  it 
would  seem,  from  all  past  remains  of  parties,  politics,  pro_ 
jects,  and  pictures,  that  you  are  the  Clay,  and  the  people 
the  potter;  and  as  some  vessels  ar.e  marred  in  the  hands  of 
the  potter,  the  natural  conclusion  is,  that  you  are  a  vessel  of 
dishonor. 

You  may  complain  that  a  close  examination  of  your 
"whole  life,  character,  and  conduct"  places  you,  as  a 
Kentuckian  would  pleasantly  term  it,  "  in  a  bad  fix."  But, 
sir,  when  the  nation  has  sunk  deeper  and  deeper  in  the 


38  CORRESPONDENCE. 


mud  at  every  turn  of  the  great  wheels  of  the  Union,  while 
you  have  acled  as  one  of  the  principal  drivers,  it  becomes 
the  bounden  duty  of  the  whole  community,  as  one  man, "to 
whisper  you  on  every  point  of  government,  to  uncover 
every  acl;  of  your  life,  and  inquire  what  mighty  acls  you 
have  done  to  benefit  the  nation,  how  much  you  have  tithed 
the  mint  to  gratify  your  lust,  and  why  the  fragments  of 
your  raiment  hang  upon  the  thorns  by  the  path  as  signals 
to  beware! 

But  your  shrinkage  is  truly  wonderful!  Not  only 
your  banking  system  and  high  tariff  projed,  have  vanished 
from  your  mind,  "like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision," 
but  the  "annexation  of  Texas"  has  touched  your  pathetic 
sensibilities  of  national  pride  so  acutely,  that  the  poor  Tex- 
ans,  your  own  brethren,  may  fall  back  into  the  ferocity  ol 
Mexico,  or  be  sold  at  auclion  to  British  stock-jobbers,  and 
all  is  well,  for  "I,"  the  old  senator  from  Kentucky,  am 
fearful  it  would  militate  against  my  interest  in  the  north,  to 
enlarge  the  borders  of  the  Union  in  the  south.  Truly,  "  a 
poor  wise  child  is  better  than  an  old  foolish  king,  who  will  be 
no  longer  admonished."  Who  ever  heard  of  a  nation 
that  had  too  much  territory?  Was  it  ever  bad  policy  to 
make  friends  ?  Has  any  people  ever  become  too  good  to 
do  good !  No,  never;  but  the  ambition  and  vanity  of 
some  men  have  flown  away  with  their  wisdom  and  judg- 
ment, and  left  a  croaking  skeleton  to  occupy  the  place  of  a 
noble  soul. 

Why,  sir,  the  condition  of  the  whole  earch  is  lament- 
able. Texas  dreads  the  teeth  and  toe  nails  of  Mexico. 
Oregon  has  the  rheumatism,  brought  on  by  a  horrid  expos- 
ure to  the  heat  and  cold  of  British  and  American  trappers; 
Canada  has  caught  a  bad  cold  from  extreme  fatigue  in  the 
patriot  war;  South  America  has  the  headache,  caused  by 
bumps  against  the  beams  of  Catholicity  and  Spanish  sov- 


CORRESPONDENCE.  39 


ereignty.  Spain  has  the  gripes  from  age  and  inquisition. 
France  trembles  and  wastes  under  the  effects  of  contagious 
diseases.  England  groans  with  the  gout,  and  wiggles  with 
wine.  Italy  and  the  German  States  are  pale  with  consump- 
tion. Prussia,  Poland,  and  the  little  contiguous  dynasties, 
duchies,  and  domains,  have  the  mumps  so  severely,  that 
"the  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole  heart  is  faint." 
Russia  has  the  cramp  by  lineage.  Turkey  has  the  numb 
palsy.  Africa,  from  the  curse  of  God,  has  lost  the  use  of  her 
limbs.  China  is  ruined  by  the  Queen's  evil,  and  the  rest  of 
Asia  fearfully  exposed  to  the  small-pox,  the  natural  way, 
from  British  peddlers.  The  islands  of  the  sea  are  almost 
dead  with  the  scurvy.  The  Indians  are  blind  and  lame; 
and  the  United  States,  which  ought  to  be  the  good  physi- 
cian with  "balm  from  Gilead"  and  an  " asylum  for  the  op- 
pressed" has  boosted  and  is  boosting  up  into  the  council 
chamber  of  the  Government  a  clique  of  political  gamblers, 
to  play  for  the  old  clothes  and  old  shoes  of  a  sick  world, 
and  " no  pledge,  no  promise  to  any  particular  portion  of  the 
people ' '  that  the  rightful  heirs  will  ever  receive  a  cent  of 
their  father' s  legacy !  Away  with  such  self-important,  self-ag- 
grandizing and  self-willed  demagogues!  Their  friendship  is 
colder  than  polar  ice,  and  their  profession  meaner  than 
the  damnation  of  hell. 

O  man!  when  such  a  great  dilemma  of  the  globe,  such 
a  tremendous  convulsion  of  kingdoms  shakes  the  earth 
from  centre  to  circumference;  when  castles,  prison-houses, 
and  cells  raise  a  cry  to  God  against  the  cruelty  of  man; 
when  the  mourning  of  the  fatherless  and  the  widow  causes 
anguish  in  heaven;  when  the  poor  among  all  nations  cry 
day  and  night  for  bread,  and  a  shelter  from  the  heat  and 
storm;  and  when  the  degraded  black  slave  holds  up  his 
manacled  hands  to  the  great  statesmen  of  the  United  States, 
and  sings  — 


40  CORRESPONDENCE. 

"  O  liberty,  where  are  thy  charms, 
That  sages  have  told  me  were  sweet?" 

And  when  fifteen  thousand  free  citizens  of  the  high-blooded 
republic  of  North  America  are  robbed  and  driven  from  one 
State  to  another  without  redress  or  redemption,  it  is  not 
only  time  for  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  to  pledge  him- 
self to  execute  judgment  and  justice  in  righteousness,  law 
or  no  law;  but  it  is  his  bounden  duty  as  a  man,  for  the 
honor  of  a  disgraced  country,  and  for  the  salvation  of  a 
once  virtuous  people  to  call  for  a  union  of  all  honest  men, 
and  appease  the  wrath  of  God  by  acts  of  wisdom,  holiness, 
and  virtue!  "The  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous  man 
availeth  much.'/ 

Perhaps  you  may  think  I  go  too  far  with  my  strictures 
and  innuendos,  because  in  your  concluding  paragraph  you 
say: —  "It  is  not  inconsistent  with  your  declarations  to  say, 
that  you  have  viewed  with  a  lively  interest  the  progress  of 
the  Latter-day  Saints,  that  you  have  sympathized  in  their 
sufferings,  under  injustice,  as  it  appeared  to  you,  which  has 
been  inflicled  upon  them ;  and  that  you  think,  in  common 
with  all  other  religious  communities,  they  ought  to  enjoy 
the  security  and  protection  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws."  If  words  were  not  wind,  and  imagination  not  a 
vapor,  such  "views"  "  with  a  lively  inte rest "  might  coax 
out  a  few  "Mormon"  votes;  such  "  sympathy"  for  their 
suffering  under  injustice  might  heal  some  of  the  sick,  yet 
lingering  amongst  them;  raise  some  of  the  dead,  and 
recover  some  of  their  property,  from  Missouri;  and  finally, 
if  thought  was  not  a  phantom,  we  might,  in  common  with 
other  religious  communities,  "you  think"  enjoy  the  security 
and  protection  of  the  Constitution  and  laws.  But  during  ten 
years,  while  the  Latter-day  Saints  have  bled,  been  robbed, 
driven  from  their  own  lands,  paid  oceans  of  money  into 
the  Treasury  to  pay  your  renowned  self  and  others  for 


C(  >KRl<:sr<  >NDENCE.  41 

legislating-  and  dealing  out  equal  rights  and  privileges  to 
those  iti  common  ivilh  all  other  religions  communities,  they 
have  waited  and  expe6ted  in  vain!  If  you  have  possessed 
any  patriotism,  it  has  been  veiled  by  your  popularity  for 
fear  the  Saints  would  fall  in  love  with  its  charms.  Blind 
charity  and  dumb  justice  never  do  much  towards  alleviating 
the  wants  of  the  needy,  but  straws  show  which  way  the 
wind  blows.  It  is  currently  rumored  that  your  detnier 
resort  for  the  Latter-day  Saints  is  to  emigrate  to  Oregon 
or  California.  Such  cruel  humanity,  such  noble  injustice, 
such  honorable  cowardice,  such  foolish  wisdom,  and  such 
vicious  virtue,  could  only  emanate  from  Clay.  After  the 
Saints  have  been  plundered  of  three  or  four  millions  of  land 
and  property,  by  the  people  and  powers  of  the  sovereign 
State  of  Missouri  —  after  they  have  sought  for  redress  and 
redemption  from  the  county  court  to  Congress,  and  been 
denied  through  religious  prejudice  .and  sacerdotal  dignity 
—  after  they  have  builded  a  city  and  two  temples  at  an 
immense  expense  of  labor  and  treasure — after  they  have 
increased  from  hundreds  to  hundreds  of  thousands  —  and 
after  they  have  sent  missionaries  to  the  various  nations  of 
the  earth,  to  gather  Israel,  according  to  the  predictions  of 
all  the  holy  prophets  since  the  world  began — that  great 
plenipotentiary,  the  renowned  Secretary  of  State,  the 
ignoble  duellist,  the  gambling  senator,  and  Whig  candidate 
for  the  presidency.  Henry  Clay,  the  wise  Kentucky  lawyer, 
advises  the  Latter-day  Saints  to  go  to  Oregon,  to  obtain 
justice,  and  set  up  a  government  of  their  own.  O  ye 
crowned  heads  among  all  nations,  is  not  Mr.  Clay  a  wise 
man,  and  very  patriotic!  Why,  great  God!  to  transport 
200,000  people  through  a  vast  prairie,  over  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  to  Oregon,  a  distance  of  nearly  2,000  miles, 
would  cost  more  than  four  millions,  or  should  they  go  by 
Cape  Horn,  in  ships  to  California,  the  cost  would  be  more 


-12  CORRESPONDENCE. 

than  tiventy  millions!  and  all  this  to  save  the  United  States 
from  inheriting  the  disgrace  of  Missouri,  for  murdering 
and  robbing  the  Saints  with  impunity!  Benton  and  Van 
Buren,  who  make  no  secret  to  say,  if  they  get  into  power 
they  will  carry  out  Boggs'  exterminating  plan,  to  rid  the 
country  of  the  Latter  day  Saints,  are' 

"  Little  nipperkins  of  milk," 

compared  to  "Clay's"  great  aquafortis  jars.  Why,  he  is 
a  real  giant  in  humanity!  "Send  the  Mormons  to  Oregon 
and  free  Missouri  from  debt  anc7  disgrace!"  Ah!  sir,  let 
this  doctrine  go  to-and-fro  throughout  the  whole  earth  — 
that  we,  as  Van  Buren  said,  know  your  cause  is  just,  but 
the  United  States  Government  can  do  nothing  for  you, 
because  it  has  no  power.  ' '  You  must  go  to  Oregon,  and 
get  justice  from  the  Indians!" 

I  mourn  for  the  depravity  of)  the  world;  I  despise  the 
hypocrisy  of  Christendom;  I  hate  the  imbecility  of 
American  statesmen;  I  detest  the  shrinkage  of  candidates 
for  office,  from  pledges  and  responsibility:  I  long"  for  a  day 
of  righteousness,  when  He  "whose  right  it  is  to  reign, 
shall  judge  the  poor,  and  reprove  with  equity  for  the  meek 
of  the  earth,"  and  I  pray  God,  who  hath  given  our  fathers 
a  promise  of  a  perfect  government  in  the  last  days,  to 
purify  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  hasten  the  welcome 
day. 

With  the  highest  consideration  for  virtue  and  unadul- 
terated freedom,  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOSEPH    SMITH. 
HON.    H.    CLAY,    Ashland,    Ky. 


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The  LITERARY  JOURNAL  was  established  for  the  purpose  of  rais- 
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"  The  worst  thing  we  have  to  say  about  it  is,  that  it  started  out  for 
good  and  to  us  appears  to  improve  in  every  issue,  and  bespeak  a  rare 
literary  treat  to  its  readers."  —  Southern  Utonian,  Beaver. 

"It  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  neatest  magazines  published 
in  Utah.  .  It  give  the  choicest  articles  from  the  leading  and  best 
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